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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Florentine Schiacciata - Carnival Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a quick and easy version of Schiacciata alla Fiorentina, a flat cake served by Florentines during their extended Carnival season. The cake is flavored with orange zest and extra virgin olive oil and, while it can be made with yeast, this version is leavened with baking soda and can be assembled in about 15 minutes. It's a lovely cake. It's lighter than an American sponge cake and it has an unusual, but very pleasant, fruity flavor. It is best served for dessert and it's wonderful with a slightly sweet fortified wine. I learned to make a version of this cake in the kitchen of an Italian neighbor when I was a child. There are, literally, hundreds of recipes for this treat. I like this one because it so nicely blends the flavors of the Tuscan orange and olive groves. Be sure to use extra virgin olive oil if you decide to make this. Anything else would be too strong for a dessert cake. It is also very important to make sure the cake is completely cooked before it's removed from the oven. Test in several areas, not just in the center of the cake. This is a moist cake and will stay fresh for several days if properly wrapped and refrigerated. Oh, before I forget, schiacciata is pronounced ski-ah-CHA-ta. I'm quite sensitive to this. I was able to make the cake long before I could pronounce its name and there was a lot of good natured teasing at my expense. Here's the recipe.

Directions:1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line the bottom of a 9 x 9 x 2-inch pan with wax or parchment paper. Grease and flour pan. Set aside.2) Whisk eggs, sugar, orange zest and juice in a large bowl. Combine olive oil and milk in a two cup measure. Whisk into egg mixture. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Fold into egg mixture until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. 3) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done. Cool on a wire rack for ten minutes before removing from pan. Invert on rack to complete cooling. Sprinkle a liberal layer of confectioners' sugar over top of cake before serving. Yield: 9 servings.

Hullo Mary,howdya do....well haven been around lately ...laptop prob so cant post either....u have so muc of deliciousness posted here that can drool away at the yummyluscious godies ...well my feeds arent still fixed so will be moving at a new home but same account-http://brightmorningstarsfoodie.blogspot.com/...but am still checking if these feeds update or no...hope they do.....cheeers and wonderful day sweets....

I have to say, I must be wanting this for breakfast. When reading this, I could have sworn it said it was best served for breakfast...but then I saw the wine recomendation...well, I suppose we could have cake and wine for breakfast :)Seriously, this looks wonderful!

Wonderful - I have become quite a fan of oil cakes in the past couple of years. Somehow, the fruitiness of the olive oil and the citrus is a perfect match. And you can't beat only 15 minutes of preparation!

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog. It is a pleasure to discover yours and I look forward to exploring and visiting.I love these kind of cakes which remind me of home and yours looks beautiful.

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